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The US Air Force has assembled an entire flight division with ground personnel at Kallax Airport, Luleå, during the Trident Juncture 18, launched Thursday.
The defense forces said the US operations at Kallax consisted of 18 fighter jets (F-16), two tankers (KC-135) and about 300 people on the ground.
To the knowledge of SVT News, it is the first time that the United States is founding an entire flight division in Sweden during a fiscal year.
The director of research, Robert Dalsjö, of the Total Defense Research Institute (FOI), says he's unaware that such an American air force would have already been based in Sweden.
"No, I do not know," he says.
Not since 1990, before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, NATO has conducted a large-scale exercise.
More than 50,000 soldiers
Last spring, NATO declared that 35,000 soldiers should participate. In early October, NATO declared that the exercise had reached 45,000 soldiers.
A few days later, the United States announced that it would send the group of Harry Truman transport vessels to northern Norway.
The group includes the aircraft carrier Harry S Truman, a fighter and a corvette and about 50 fighter planes on board. It's almost as much as a whole Swedish air force. That means 6,000 more soldiers.
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The latest addition of the United States means that there will be a total of more than 50,000 soldiers, 250 fighter jets, 60 ships and more than 10,000 military vehicles from the 29 NATO member states and two Alliance partners with "gold cards" – Sweden and Finland.
"This is one of the many signs of a difficult security situation in our region of the world.We could speak of a rapid deterioration of the security policy climate," said Robert Dalsjö, research director at FOI .
"Examination"
Sweden's total contribution to Trident Juncture 18 includes about 2,200 soldiers, sailors and officers. Sweden is mainly interested in exercises in airspace and the transport of soldiers and military vehicles throughout the country.
Most of the exercise takes place in Norway, in the North Atlantic, in Iceland, in the Baltic Sea and in the airspace of Sweden and Finland.
For the seven Jas 39 Gripen and the two Visby careers participating in the exercise, there is also a certification to be part of the NRF NRF of NATO.
– It's a bit like an end-of-study exam. You can join.
The Swedish combat flight was based at Bodö Airport, Norway, during the exercise.
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Article 5 of NATO
The armed forces assert that Sweden's participation in the exercise is based on the Swedish Solidarity Declaration, which states in particular that Sweden can "provide and receive support, both civilian and military" if a country of the Union is unable to do so. EU or a Nordic country suffers a catastrophe or an attack.
The exercise also deals with the NATO common defense clause, referred to as "Article 5", which means mutual defense in the event of an attack by one or more allies.
Nighttime practices are a reaction to Russia's actions in recent years, said Robert Daljsö.
"The Russian action that you have threatened to carry out will have become counterproductive, and instead it has encouraged neighboring countries to strengthen their defense and exercise more.
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